BY GLENN KESSLER
June 6 at 6:00 am

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The Pinocchio Test

We fully appreciate that the details of a prisoner exchange are important, and McCain certainly made that caveat clear. But since the deal was announced, he has suggested that the question of trading the Taliban Five for Bengdahl was a surprise—and that’s certainly not the case. These five men were always part of the prisoner swap, so that is not a detail that can be in dispute. Indeed, only a day after The Washington Post revealed a deal was in the works to trade the five men for Bengdahl, McCain appeared on television with what was billed as a “new position.”

McCain is on a bit stronger ground when he objects to a one year stay in Qatar. The length of the detention was not clear in February, though the former detainees will remain longer in Qatar (to mid 2014) than was contemplated under earlier proposals (end of 2014.)

But what is the point of a prisoner swap if the released prisoners are not at some point going to be free? By the very nature of such a deal, an experienced lawmaker (and former POW) like McCain should expect that the Taliban Five would have been able to go free eventually.

McCain may have thought he left himself an out when he said his support was dependent on the details. But then he can’t object to the most important detail–the identity of the prisoners–that was known at the time he indicated his support. McCain earns an upside-down Pinocchio, constituting a flip-flop.

An Upside-Down Pinocchio



http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2014/06/06/did-john-mccain-flip-flop-on-the-bergdahl-deal/?